England beat Pakistan by 6 wickets in first T20I

F.P. Report

KARACHI: England defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets in first Twenty20 cricket international in Karachi on Tuesday.

Mohammad Rizwan’s 68-run innings helped Pakistan built a strong total of  for England in first T20I match of the series being played at the National Stadium in Karachi today (Tuesday).

Babar Azam and Rizwan shared good opening partnership of 85 runs before the Pakistani skipper was bowled out by England’s Adil Rashid for 31.

One-down player Haider Ali was dismissed by Sam Curran for 11 runs as he could not stay long with Rizwan on crease.

Shan Masood’s T20I debut was not impressive as he could score on 7 runs before caught out by Richard Gleeson on Rashid’s ball.

The visiting team managed to build pressure on the Green Shirts after Mohammad Rizwan was sent to pavilion for 68 runs by Moeen Ali.

However, Iftikhar Ahmed did not succumb to pressure as he showed impressive skills with bat and smashed 28 off 17 balls before dismissed by Luke Wood.

The T20I series is being dubbed as historic as tourists visited the South Asian country for the first time in 17 years.

The National Stadium Karachi will host the first four matches before the historic series will shift to the cricket headquarters at the Gaddafi Stadium where the remaining three matches will be played, all matches will start at 07:30 pm.

The series will be part of the first leg of England’s tour of Pakistan as they will return after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 for three Tests in December this year.

Lately, both teams held practice sessions for the first game, and players from both teams participated in the training.

On Monday, the trophy for the T20I series was unveiled at National Stadium. Pakistani captain and star batter Babar Azam and his English counterpart Jos Buttler posed with the trophy in pictures shared by PCB.

Men in Green come into the series after Asia Cup 2022 campaign, where they managed to reach the finals, however, Sri Lanka bagged the final game.

Pakistan will lock horns with England without key pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and opener Fakhar Zaman as they are both injured, and Shan Masood this time got the opportunity to play for team green.

Meanwhile, the visitors will look to regain momentum ahead of T20 World Cup as they lost all three T20I series they have played in 2022. England will come with newer players including Will Jacks, Phil Salt, and Harry Brook in absence of skipper Jos Buttler.

Experts suggest wicket of the National Stadium in the port city offers a batting-friendly surface while this will be the first T20I that will be held at this stadium since December 2021.

Squads

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood and Usman Qadir

England: Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali (vice-captain), Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Richard Gleeson, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Luke Wood, Mark Wood